Well, hidey-ho! What a difference a year makes! Last year around this time (January-February), I remember cruising around amazon one day and discovering that the year’s Newbery award winner was out. I thought, “Hey, I should get that. That would be fun to read.” So I did.
Now, this year, I am obsessed with lit blogs, especially kid lit blogs. I read them every day and have even started my own. Thanks to all these blogs, I now know more than ever before about children’s books. And, I’ll confess, I got a little shiver of excitement the moment before the Newbery announcement (yeah, I watched it live on the web). Kind of like the thrill I used to feel as the alphabetical list of snowday cancellations got closer and closer to my school.
Gosh, I had never even heard of the Newbery winner, The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. But now I have a new book on my to-be-read list. Of course, I’m bummed that A Drowned Maiden’s Hair didn’t get any honors. And I’m even more bummed about Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller. The more I thought about it, the more I was rootin’ for Kiki. Maud’s story captured my interest slightly more than Kiki’s, but Kiki’s gets more originality points. And I still think about Ananka’s “rules” at the end of each chapter. (Note to readers: go get Kiki Strike!) Anyhoo, at least I can recommend my faves to my blog readers.
I did better with the Printz. I haven’t read American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. Maybe I will, but maybe I won’t. I have yet to read a graphic novel. My gut tells me I should start with To Dance by Siena Cherson Siegel and Mark Siegel. As for some of the “honor” books, I do LOVE with a capital L both Octavian Nothing and The Book Thief. I’m a John Green fan (Looking for Alaska! Wow!) and have An Abundance of Katherines checked out from the library as of this Saturday, and it is near the top of my list.
And now, back to last year. This morning, in honor of the Newberys, I started Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins. I’m on page 65 right now, and it’s beautiful. Special thanks to Kate’s Book Blog–her Top 10 of 2006 really got me reading Criss Cross.
This Just In 
Kate S. said
I’m glad that you’re enjoying “Criss Cross.” I hadn’t heard of this year’s Newbery winner, or of “Kiki Strike.” I will put both books on my list!